Pcp Or Ped Gi

[Rosewied]

Hey celiac moms and dads!

I was just diagnosed and need to get my kids tested. I think my 3yo has it, but not sure about the little one. 3yo has hyperactivity issues, was on zantac as a baby while breastfeeding and i was never able to give him any baby cereals besides rice, they all made him sick. Funny at the time I actually said to my aunt that he might be allergic to the gluten.

Anyway I love my Primary Care, I called to see what I needed to do to go ahead and get their blood tests run. They called me back 2 days later and said my doctor needed to research it. She didn't know a lot about celiac disease and wanted to see what needed to be done. So, now I'm wondering if I should take them there for their testing or not. Do I need to have the initial testing done with a pediatric GI?

I'd appreciate any advice!

meagan

[JennyC]

The blood work can be done at the pediatrician office. In fact, that's where my son's initial testing was done. If they will not test your children, I would go some where else. Also make sure that they run the full celiac panel on your children. You should also keep in mind that it takes time for antibodies to develop in children, so false negatives are not uncommon in children. My son was tested for celiac at age one and tested negative, but at age three and a half tested positive. If your children have symptoms but test negative, you can always retest them later or try them on the gluten free diet.

Celiac Panel:

tTG-IgA or tissue transglutaminase-IgA

AGA-IgG or Antigliadin IgG

AGA-IgA or Antigliadin IGA

Total IGA

[Rosewied]

Thank you so much! I'm waiting to hear back from the Ped. office still. I really like them and they seem to want to help us. Also it's my doc's office too. They are an internist/pediatric practice, and were at least willing to spend some time doing some research and becoming informed.

Definitely not the reaction my mom got from her PCP when she called and asked them for the blood test. They acted like she was crazy and so was I for thinking I had it and didn't get diagnosed until I was 27. I was shocked, as that used to be my doctor until I moved and would never have expected such a response from a serious physician. I'm just so glad I decided the way my body was reacting could not be normal and went to the GI. My mom went and got her blood test today at the same GI practice I went to, after putting herself on a gluten challenge for the last 2 weeks. I'm positive she has it, so is my step-dad. Our medical history is pretty much identical. Except she already has osteopenia at 47. She was diagnosed with it 2 years ago.

Well, thank you again for the blood panel list. I was so out of it after my EGD I didn't ask the specifics of getting the kids tested and hate to bug them for something I can figure out on my own. Just amazed at how blessed I am to have a doc who was insightful and knowledgeable enough to recognize my symptoms and put my crazy medical history together. Soooo many things are now explained.

[frantastk]

Our doctors have also been great about the testing. Our pediatrician actually suggested celiac testing when my youngest dd first started to show failure to thrive at her 9 month check-up. At her 18 month check up she had been showing some symptoms of celiac so we had the testing done, we also ran a bunch of blood allergy tests and other stuff. Her tests were inconclusive for celiac but seemed to show a gluten intolerance so we are doing more testing. The GI is running the gene test right now and says a positive gene test with inconclusive celiac panel will warrant a gluten free diet and as far as she is concerned a celiac diagnosis, but she may consider doing a biopsy to see the extent of the damage. My pcp agreed immediately to run the tests on me when I told her that it was possible dd has celiac, no questions asked. So we're waiting for my results right now. If my results show any gluten antibodies we probably will stop testing on dd and just go gluten free. My pcp said she would refer me to a GI immediately if my results came back questionable or positive. I have 2 older kids to test also, but I'm sure my ped will want them tested automatically. We do have a history of gluten intolerance in my family (no celiac testing as far as I know) and celiac on my husband's side, so the family history of gluten problems is maybe the reason our docs were so agreeable to celiac testing. Honestly, I never even considered celiac until the ped brought it up. Love her!